Campaigning is underway in earnest

WELL, the local elections for Taunton Deane Borough Council to be held on May 3 have been officially called, and campaigning for most candidates starts in earnest today.
For me (this is me, pictured here, for anybody who does not know me), it is a case of continuing with the work I have been putting in for quite a long time now.
I have actually been out and about on the Blackdown Hills meeting local voters and hearing about their concerns since last October.
I have already attended and spoken at meetings of Pitminster and Churchstanton Parish Councils and have been raising issues of concern to the people I have been meeting on the doorsteps, and I will shortly be attending Otterford Parish Council as well.
I am indebted to the many people in the ward who have been kind enough to deliver leaflets on behalf of the Conservative Party and myself in recent months and weeks.
As a busy person myself, I know how difficult it can be to find the time to help with even small things, but no matter how large or small the contribution, I am very grateful to everybody who has and who continues to help our campaign.
I do not especially like to pick out individuals for fear of offending those who are not mentioned by name, but I have to make a special mention of Chris Robinson.
Chris served the Blackdown Ward well as a councillor for many years and he has been absolutely invaluable in helping me and showing me around areas of the ward which I did not already know so well.
I have been amazed at how he seems to personally know anybody and everybody in the area, and he continues with a passion to hold a grasp of the day-to-day issues which are close to everybody who lives and works in the ward.
With the help of Chris and others, I have been building on my own familiarity with the Blackdowns and I have travelled the length and breadth of the ward meeting people from all walks of life.
I have already tackled issues such as a roadside hedge in Churchinford which the Deane council had been neglecting to cut back for some years and which was really causing a nuisance to one neighbour in particular.
Speeding cars in Angersleigh and in other locations; flooding in Lowton; roadside litter at Fulwood; anti-social behaviour near Shoreditch and in other areas; planning issues in Fosgrove and in Duddlestone; the debate over the future location of Churchstanton Primary School and whether there should be more housing in the village; the project to create a village hall at Sellicks Green; these are all issues which I have been following or have been involved with.
There are many, many other issues which have been coming up as I talk to people in the ward.
Many of them are actually the responsibility of Somerset County Council and I will do my best to try to make them do something to help.
However, it has to be appreciated that the county council is run by the Liberal Democrats, whose idea of helping people tends to be just to say the things they think you want to hear so you will vote for them.
The Lib Dems will promise you the earth if they thought it would make you support them - but, as many people in the ward have already discovered, they rarely, if ever, deliver.
They seem to like to play on people’s fears: ‘Be afraid, be very afraid – and vote for us’ seems to be a Lib Dem motto.
While at the same time they stoop to downright deceit. I have heard of a case nearby in Wellington where a Lib Dem councillor has been telling people she lives in Wellington, when she actually lives miles away in Devon and is more qualified to be a Culmstock parish councillor or a Mid Devon district councillor, than a councillor in Wellington and Taunton Deane.
If you cannot even trust the Lib Dems to be honest about where they live, then I do not believe you can really trust them on anything.
We will discover at noon on Wednesday who else is standing for election in the Blackdown Ward, as the nominations officially close at that time.
I will look forward with interest to finding out with whom I will be ‘sparring’.